Good Robot in Halifax Finds Success with Silent Nights
HALIFAX – For many pubs, the sign of a good night is the loud chatter heard from every corner of the room. At full tables, the laughs and shouts of the customers are magnified and the whole bar is bustling.
But at Good Robot Brewing Company in Halifax’s north end some of the best nights are completely quiet – save for the rustling of pages.
In January of 2016, Good Robot started up their first Silent Reading Night. Co-founder and director of marketing Joshua Counsil adapted the idea from a restaurant and hotel he spent time at in Seattle. Counsil, along with co-founders Angus Campbell and Doug Kehoe, had opened the bar in December 2015 and were looking at ways to bring in the guests. Counsil convinced his friends to gamble on the reading night.
“We were broke, flat broke. We had spent all our money on the bar, and nobody was coming in,” Counsil recalled with a laugh. “This was a sort of ace up my sleeve that we’d had for some time. I went, ‘let me do this event, I guarantee you we’ll fill that bar.’”
They did. With just 24 hours, Council packed the bar with thirsty patrons, happy to settle in with a good book. Since then, they’ve hosted a dozen more reading nights, with lines out the door each night.
The concept is simple: For two hours, the bar is quiet. Instead of loud rock or plunky acoustic guitar, they play soft jazz at a comfortable level. Patrons come in, order their beers, and take a seat at one of the German-style pub tables. Then, they pull out a book and get reading.
“It’s very funny because people talk about the event who haven’t been to the event like it’s impossible to pull off,” marvels Counsil. Instead, the simplicity is what Counsil thinks pulls people to the bar. In fact, once the two hours are up, many of the silent readers stay, choosing to chat with their seat-mates.
After two hours of complete silence, maybe they look across the room, and they see somebody’s reading Kurt Vonnegut, and they realise they already have a connection to that person,” Counsil says.
Currently, the Silent Reading Nights are no charge, but the owners are toying with the idea of adding a cover charge of $12, which would include two drinks. They hope that might cut down on the people who come to read but don’t actually order a beer, which is starting to happen more regularly.
“Previously, we’d had a lot of beer drinkers who were big book readers. Now its just attracting a lot of book readers who don’t necessarily drink or want to spend money on things,” Counsil said. “We sort of have to rethink because it’s still wildly popular, people demand it like crazy. But we’re losing money on it.”
Counsil knows there could be some fall-out from adding a cover charge to the popular event. But he hopes most customers would understand the need to ensure the night is a success.
“Profits go into giving staff raises, or creating new positions,” Counsil says. “They go to company infrastructure, or they go to expansion. You can’t explain that in a tweet.”
But for the loyal crew of bar regulars, Counsil thinks they wouldn’t mind a small cover, especially if it included drinks. He says the most popular beer during the reading nights is their darkest stout, the Tom Waits For No One.
The next Silent Reading Night is Tuesday, December 12.
Emily Baron Cadloff is a freelance writer based in Halifax.